2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I don't get this whole PoC discussion... [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)older PoC, and not just African American, feel safer with a known quantity, even if that known quantity has issues. And the economy of the 1990s was good for the community as well. They will not turn out and vote for the unknown until they feel that unknown has a change of upsetting the known quantity.
And yes, many of these same folks know about the history of mass incarceration... they are just not sure at the moment this new comer (like 2008 mind you) has a chance. Once they see he has a chance, the pattern will break. In fact it is starting to slowly develop shatter lines.
In some ways, many AAs of the moses generation identify with Bill Clinton who was treated as an outsider by the DC establishment, almost a country bumpkin, and he also spent a lot of years building relationships with the leadership.
But sings of trouble are ahead. Ben Jealous breaking for Sanders is just one of the many endorsements to come, and not precisely for the Clintons.
The kids... well they are far more cynical about politics in general, but that is an "issue" millennials have. Getting their vote will not be easy, but whoever wins it, will keep it. And yes, this generational break is stark.